Lead Engineer- Syft

Xero; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote-friendly

Hybrid office

Office boost days

Job summary

Xero in London/Remote is seeking a Lead Engineer to shape technical direction across reporting and insights platforms. You will lead hands‑on development, mentor engineers, and drive improvements in delivery, deployment and support while reducing knowledge silos.

You’ll work with a modern stack including Node.js and AWS, collaborate across teams, and help deliver multi‑year product goals with data‑driven decisions. A growth mindset and strong communication are essential.

Qualifications

• Experience designing secure, scalable distributed systems.
• Proficient in Node.js and AWS.
• Experience coaching and mentoring engineers.
• Strong communication and collaboration skills.
• Ability to lead incident responses and testing strategies.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineering efforts and set direction for the team.
• Support engineers to deliver high‑quality software.
• Improve development practices and operational visibility.
• Collaborate across design, delivery, deployment and support.
• Drive architectural decisions and multi‑year product goals.

Skills

Node.js

AWS

Distributed systems

Mentoring engineers

Technical leadership

Incident response

Communication

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

Role

You will collaborate with peers across Xero to create and deliver software to our customers. By modelling engineering excellence, you will support your team to grow their technical capability, improve development practices, and tackle open‑ended architectural challenges.

Your work will directly shape the technical direction of the product group, breaking down silos and driving multi‑year product or platform goals. Through data‑driven decisions and smart simplification of complex systems, you will help solve customer problems effectively and release value early.

Team

This cross‑functional engineering team focuses on building and managing software that solves complex problems at scale. Working in a collaborative and safe environment, team members coordinate closely to align technical designs with broader architectural standards. Together, they foster a culture of ownership, experimentation, and feedback to deliver high‑quality outcomes.

The team is currently working on high‑impact reporting and insights engineering across Xero. Current work includes Budgets API and Reporting integration, the Benchmarking rebuild, and resilience improvements to the Syft‑X API as demand grows from both customer‑facing experiences and internal consumers.

As a Lead Engineer, you’ll be a hands‑on technical leader: setting direction, supporting engineers to deliver well, and improving how the team works across design, delivery, deployment and support. You’ll help us build smaller, safer changes, strengthen operational visibility, and reduce dependency on a small number of people for critical knowledge and production work.

Work Environment

This role offers a remote working environment designed to support collaboration and balance. If you prefer you can work hybrid from one of our modern office spaces, designated in‑office boost days to connect with other teams in person.

Qualifications

• You bring expertise in designing secure, scalable distributed systems and managing software at scale with proficiency in our core tech stack, Node.js and AWS.
• A background in coaching and mentoring engineers, helping them grow their technical capabilities, is essential.
• You possess strong communication skills, with the ability to navigate complex technical ideas and build alignment.
• Your growth mindset drives a passion for continuous learning, experimentation, and sharing technical knowledge.
• An ability to lead incident responses, resolve failure patterns, and guide quality testing strategies will be highly valued.
• You offer a collaborative approach to problem‑solving, welcoming diverse perspectives and encouraging a healthy team culture.

Apply even if your experience isn’t a perfect match!

At Xero, we hire based on your skills, passion, and the unique perspective you can bring to enhance our culture and team.